Bow for string instruments, violins, cellos, etc.



Oct. 26, 1943. H. KASTON 2,333,013

BOW FOR STRING INSTRUMENTS, VIOLIN, CELLO, ETC

Filed Sept. 26, 1942 1:25.71 F'E E. a.

INVENTOR. 9

HTTORZVZV Patented Oct. 26, 1943 BOW FOR STRING INSTRUMENTS, VIOLINS,

CELLO Henryk Kaston, New York, N. Y.

Application September 26, 1942, Serial No. 459,773

Claims.

This invention relatesto bows for string instruments, e. g. violin, alto, cello, viola da gamba, viola da bracia etc.

One object of this invention is to perform a bow which enables the player of the string instrument to play one string or two, three, four strings at the same time at his will. This will give the musicians the possibility to perform the old masters music the way this music was written, and open new horizons to modern composers who up to now were not able to take full advantage of all violin possibilities.

Bows now in use and at present constructed include a stick of a somewhat convex shape provided with hairs which are tense during the performance. Therefore the violinists of today play the notes of a chord consecutively instead of playing them simultaneously, so that notes are lost; the polyphony is torn and the whole picture is distorted.

The bows of the Bach time comprising a highly curved concave rod provided with loose hairs which permitted the player to embrace the chords and to sound all the notes.

However, said bows by reason of the loose hairs did not permit the player to perform single tune music perfectly.

The bows according to this invention combine the advantages of the modern bow with the ability to play simultaneously all of the notes of chords as it was possible with the bows of Bachs time.

According to this invention means are provided to vary the tension of the hair bundle of the bow easily, thereby giving the player the ability to play with the same bow with loose hairs or with tight hairs at his will.

Another object of this invention is to provide means to vary the tension of the hair bundle of the bow during playing. This will be performed according to this invention without any necessity for the player to change the grip of the hand at the bow.

Further objects of this invention will be apparent from the specification and the drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the holding end of the bow showing the hairs of the bow stretched, a locking mechanism being in operative position. 3

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the bow as Fig. 1, showing the hairs released, the locking mechanism being in inoperative position.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bow showing a modified locking mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 1 showing the operative position of the locking mechanism.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section through the locking mechanism of the bow according to Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing the locking mechanism of Fig. 4 in inoperative position.

Fig. 7 shows the new bow in elevation in a reduced scale, the hairs being in stretched position.

Fig. 8 is a similar view as Fig. '7, the hairs being released.

The reference characters in the several figures denote like parts.

The bow comprises a bowstick I and a bundle of hairs 2 said hairs being attached to the tip 3 at the left end of the bow and to a frog 4 on the right end of the bow in the usual manner.

In contrary to the usual bows the bowstick I is somewhat concavely curved, but by no means as much as the Bach time bows used to be. The frog is somewhat higher and the left tip of the bowstick is shaped somewhat longer than usual. This is shown in Figs. 7 and 8,

The heretofore mentioned modifications of the shape of the new bow are necessary to prohibit the hairs 2 from touching the stick I in case the player uses the bow with loose hairs in order to play chords.

The frog 4 is adapted to slide with respect to the two ends of the bowstick I to stretch or loosen the hairs 2 whenever the player wishes to do so.

The stretching of the hairs is performed by moving the frog to the right end of the bow with the tip of the thumb, acting on the tip 5 of the frog.

To fix the hairs in stretched position a locking mechanism as shown in Figs. 4 and 6 may be used comprising a lever 6 and a shaft I0 both of them provided inside of the bowstick I said lever being under the action of a spring I fastened to the bowstick I by means of a screw 8.

The shaft I0 is connected with the frog 4 by means of a lug I5 and therefore follows the movements of said frog. The shaft I0 is composed by two parts Illa and Illb. The part I0b is connected with the nut II of the bow. Part Illa of the shaft I0 is tapered where the parts Ifla and I0!) are joining, so forming a recess I2.

When the frog 4 together with the shaft II) has been moved outwardly the right tip I3 of lever 6 catches the recess I2 of the shaft I0 hereby locking the device and holding the hairs 2 in stretched position as shown in Fig. 4,

A button 9 fastened on the end of said lever 6 extends through the bowstick I and gives the player the possibility to actuate said lever by pressing on it preferably with the small finger of his hand.

When the player presses on said button 9 the locking mechanism is released. Thelever 6 and the shaft ll) get out of engagement and said shaft 10 together with the frog 4 are drawn backward by the stretch of the hairs 2, so loosening said hairs.

When the pressure on button 9 of lever B is released, said lever is pressed down by part lob of the shaft I and held in this position as shown in Fig- 6.

Figs. 3 and show a modified form of a locking mechanism.

According to this modification the locking and unlocking of the shaft I4 is performed by the movement of a tip 9a connected with shaft l0 along a slit provided in the bowstick I. The device will be locked by moving backward said tip 9a and turning it down-in arecess I20. provided at the end of the slit in the bowstick.

The unlocking is performed by turning up the handle 9a.

Beside the devices described before to vary the tension of the hairs of the bow during playing, the bow according to this invention is furthermore provided with well known means for adjusting the tension of the hairs of the bow before playing with the bow.

The adjustment may be performed for instance by turning the nut ll, connected with shaft It, said shaft It] being provided with a screw-threaded part [4 which engages in a lug l5 connected with the frog 4.

I have described and illustrated special applications of my inventive idea to bows for string instruments but, it is of course understood that modifications in the construction and arrangements of the parts may be adopted without departing of the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is: 1

1. A bow for musical string-instruments which can be used for playing as well with loosened as with tensed hair comprising a stick; a frog longitu dinally slid'able on the stick; hair anchored to said frog; a coupling member carried by said frog; a movable shaft connected with said coupling member and extending through and beyond the inner end of said stick; means provided on and in the stick to lock automatically said shaft and said frog in their position when the frog is moved by the player to the outer end of the bow in order to stretch the hair of the bow; and means to unlock the shaft and the frog thereby loosening the hair anchored to said frog, said bow enabling the player to stretch or to loosen the hair of the bow during playing without changing the grip of the hand on the bow.

2. In a bow for musical instruments as set forth in claim 1 a locking mechanism comprising a movable shaft connected with the frog said shaft being arranged in the inside of the stick and being provided with a recess; a spring actuated lever provided inside the stick and adapted to catch said recess and to lock the shaft when the frog with said shaft has been moved backwards; a handle connected with said lever, said handle extending through the wall of the stick and being adapted to act on said lever to uncouple the lever and the shaft.

3. A bow for musical string-instruments as set forth in claim 1 comprising a slightly curved stick, a higher frog, and a prolonged tip.

4. In a bow for string-instruments as set forth in claim 1 a locking mechanism comprising a stick provided with an additional slit forming a r recess at its outer end; a tip connected with the movable and turnable shaft extending through and beyond the inner of said stick said tip extending through said slit and fixing said shaft together with the frog and the hair in stretched position when turned down and locked in said recess.

5. A bow for musical string-instruments which can be used for playing as well with loosened as with tensed hair comprising a stick; a frog longitudinally slidable on the stick; hair anchored to said frog; a coupling member carried by said frog; a turnable shaft connected with said coupling member extending through and beyond the inner end of said stick and being movable in the same according to the movement of the frog; means provided on and in the stick to lock automatically said shaft and said frog in their position when the frog is moved by the player to the outer end of the bow in order to stretch the hair of the bow; means to unlock the shaft and the frog thereby loosening the hair anchored to said frog; and an independent device for adjusting the hairs of the bow before using the bow said device consisting in a nut provided at the outer end of the shaft, and a screw-threaded part provided at the inner end of said shaft engaging in a fixed screw nut; said bow enabling the player to hold the bow in the usual correct manner and to stretch or to loosen th hair of the bow during playing without changing the grip of the hand on the' bow.

HENRYK KASTON. 

